WISDOM Speaks Out Against Parole Revocation System

Prison Reform Group Holds Rally In Milwaukee To Bring Attention To 4K Parolees Who Get Sent Back To Jail

Wednesday, August 20, 2014, 8:00pm

By Chuck Quirmach and Sequoia Baker

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Prison reform advocates are calling on Gov. Scott Walker and Department of Corrections Secretary Ed Wall to change a system that sends people back to prison when they violate the conditions of their parole.

At a rally in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Reverend Joseph Ellwanger of the group WISDOM said that 4,000 offenders return to prison every year simply because of rule infractions. He said that the policy is costing the state more than $140 million a year.

“The system is not running in an efficient, effective, cost-effective and an outcome-effective way as it could and as it should,” he said. “We hope the governor and the secretary will look at this and do something about it immediately.”

Ellwanger said parolees should only be sent back to prison if they commit new crimes, not because they have missed an appointment with a parole officer or are caught using drugs.

The group also claims that too often, the GPS monitoring bracelets parolees wear malfunction, resulting in unnecessary jail time for offenders.

In the past, DOC officials have said that the current revocation system is necessary to hold offenders accountable for their actions.

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